At Home: Royal Blood
The man had been buried beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England, for years?and his origins had stumped archaeologists, though they suspected royal ancestry. Now, thanks to a Canadian carpenter who turned out to be a long-lost relative, the mysterious skeleton has been identified as belonging to none other than King Richard III.
As the CBC reports, the London, Ontario-born Michael Ibsen is ?stunned that his DNA helped solve a 500-year-old mystery.?
The much-maligned Richard III, who ruled England during the Wars of the Roses, was overthrown by the Tudor King Henry VII. Some historians believe that his poor reputation after death was largely thanks to the influence of the ?victorious Tudors? and to William Shakespeare, who ?indelibly depicted Richard as a hunchbacked usurper who left a trail of bodies on his way to the throne before dying in battle.?
Ibsen is ?a 17th great-grand-nephew of Richard’s older sister ? Anne of York.? He and Richard share ?a rare strain of mitochondrial DNA,? and the DNA evidence confirms historical and archaeological evidence that has built up over the past few centuries.
Richard’s remains will be ?interred in the city’s cathedral and a memorial service [will] be held.?
Around the World: Gimme Cookie
A giant cookie has gone missing?and Cookie Monster is holding it ransom. Sound like a Sesame Street plot gone horribly awry? The story is true, but whether It’s the blue monster himself or some trickster responsible, the case sounds more fictional than fact.
As NBC News reports, a ?famous 44-pound metal cookie? belonging to German cookie manufacturer Bahlsen was stolen from the company’s Hannover factory in late January. The landmark piece had been in place since 1913.
This week the local newspaper received ?a ransom note made up of letters cut from newspapers and signed by the ?Cookie Monster?,? who ?demanded that a shipment of cookies be sent . . . to a local children’s hospital.? Otherwise, the note cautioned, the giant cookie would end up in ?the trash can of Oscar the Grouch.?
Bahlsen has offered more than $1,300 US for information leading to the cookie’s recovery, with a company rep telling reporters, ?We refuse to be blackmailed.?